World Cup 2006 Update

It's been a somewhat disappointing World Cup 2006 for me. Since I have not blogged for some time, the world cup has reached it's Semi-final stages with France meeting Portugal and also Germany versus Italy. The winners will then meet to decide who will be the World Cup holder for 2006!

Disappointing, because the teams that I thought would have a good chance of winning it have been dumped out of the competition. Argentina got kicked out of the quarter finals due to a tactical blunder by Jose Pekerman (Coach), Holland got booted out at the final 16 round to Portugal (This game was a refereeing bluner, that IDIOT Russian referee sent of four players and flashed the yellow card, 16 times!). Brazil were humbled by France in the quarter finals(Brazil had the most gifted bunch of players to graze the tournament). Yet Brazil could not trouble Fabian Barthez in goal throughout the whole game. Spain was knocked out by France courtesy of three goals in the late stages of their round of final 16 matches.

The most shocking and weirdest fact was that England got to the quarter finals. They were made to pay for some really terrible penalty taking and lost to Portugal on penalties (Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher failed to score). Why did I say shocking, England was DULL and BORING. I'm glad to see Sven go after this World Cup and I hope the next manager doesn't pick Beckham to be the England captain or even pick him in the England line up for the next competition. I mean, no team which plays 4-5-1 deserve to be crowned world champion and especially so a team that took an injured and half fit Wayne Rooney, a half fit Michael Owen (his playing career might actually be over, especially after rushing him back and he wasn't even tackled when he went down injured and went back home), a bean pole striker, Peter Crouch and an untested rookie (Theo Walcott) who has not even featured once in an English Premier League game. Anyway, England has been booted out and I'm partly satisfied even though not very delighted at the outcome of this world cup.

Results so far:

Group A (Germany, Ecuador, Poland, Costa Rica)
Germany 4-2 Costa Rica
Poland 0-2 Ecuador
Germany 1-0 Poland
Ecuador 3-0 Costa Rica
Costa Rica 1-2 Poland
Ecuador 0-3 Germany

Group B (England, Sweden, Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago)
England 1-0 Paraguay
Trinidad & Tobago 0-0 Sweden
England 2-0 Trinidad & Tobago
Sweden 1-0 Paraguay
Paraguay 2-0 Trinidad & Tobago
Sweden 2-2 England

Group C (Argentina, Holland, Ivory Coast, Serbia & Montenegro)
Argentina 2-1 Ivory Coast
Serbia & Montenegro 0-1 Netherlands
Argentina 6-0 Serbia & Montenegro
Netherlands 2-1 Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast 3-2 Serbia & Montenegro
Netherlands 0-0 Argentina

Group D (Portugal, Mexico, Angola, Iran)
Mexico 3-1 Iran
Angola 0-1 Portugal
Mexico 0-0 Angola
Portugal 2-0 Iran
Iran 1-1 Angola
Portugal 2-1 Mexico

Group E (Italy, Ghana, Czech Republic, United States)
United States 0-3 Czech Republic
Italy 2-0 Ghana
Czech Republic 0-2 Ghana
Italy 1-1 United States
Czech Republic 0-2 Italy
Ghana 2-1 United States

Group F (Brazil, Australia, Croatia, Japan)
Australia 3-1 Japan
Brazil 1-0 Croatia
Japan 0-0 Croatia
Brazil 2-0 Australia
Croatia 2-2 Australia
Japan 1-4 Brazil

Group G (France, Switzerland, South Korea, Togo)
South Korea 2-1 Togo
France 0-0 Switzerland
France 1-1 South Korea
Togo 0-2 Switzerland
Switzerland 2-0 South Korea
Togo 0-2 France

Group H (Spain, Ukraine, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia)
Spain 4-0 Ukraine
Tunisia 2-2 Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia 0-4 Ukraine
Spain 3-1 Tunisia
Saudi Arabia 0-1 Spain
Ukraine 1-0 Tunisia

Round of 16
Germany 2-0 Sweden
Argentina 2-1 Mexico
England 1-0 Ecuador
Portugal 1-0 Netherlands
Italy 1-0 Australia
Switzerland 0-0 Ukraine (Ukraine 3-0 on penalties)
Brazil 3-0 Ghana
Spain 1-3 France

Quarter Finals
Germany 1-1 Argentina (Germany 4-2 on penalties)
Italy 3-0 Ukraine
England 0-0 Portugal (Portugal 3-1 on penalties)
Brazil 0-1 France

Semi Finals
Germany vs Italy
Portugal vs France